Many people write to me complaining how they bought a bulb from Woolworths or Coles and they fitted it up and that the new globe failed in a very short space of time!

Well there could be a few reasons why this has occurred.

The first could be the quality of the globe. light bulbs are no longer manufactured in Australia and are therefore all imported into the country. You will see globes from all over the world – Indonesia, China, Germany, Spain, USA or Italy. As with many things in life you get what you pay for. Unless you get enjoyment from climbing ladders, always look at where the product is manufactured. The filaments in quality globes will outlast the cheap ones most of the time.

The second reason could be the rated voltage of the globe. Sometimes you will see a long life version of a light globe right next to the cheaper one. Next time have a look at the voltage on the side of the long life version and you will notice that it is higher than the cheaper alternative. This is why the lamp lasts longer as it is continually being operated under voltage. You can achieve the same result by using a dimmer switch.

Another reason could be that the electricity company may not be providing you with a constant voltage. In many areas in Australia, especially during peak times there will be times when the mains voltage exceeds the standards. We know that under voltage increases lamp life, the opposite occurs when the lamps operate on higher voltages.

And sometimes lamps just fail. You must consider that millions of light bulbs are imported into Australia every year and occasionally a rogue globe sneaks through quality assurance and just blows.

Hopefully next time you are left in darkness at the most inconvenient of times, you will understand a bit of the science of why the light globes might of failed.

Long life incandescent globes are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes online from Lighting Pro Australia.